Liberia drops indiscipline football players


By Bruce Wiah – Liberiansoccer Chief Football Writer -

 Monrovia-Liberia’s senior football team has dropped three key players ahead of its African Cup of Nations qualifiers match against Zimbabwe on Sunday, September 5 in Monrovia.

Lone Star’s Hungarian Coach, Bertalan Bicskei, dismissed Dulee Johnson (AIK Sonia - Sweden), Dioh Williams (AGF Aarhus - Denmark), Francis Doe (Al Ahly - Egypt) from his team Thursday for breaking camping regulations.

The trio, according to Coach Bicskei, didn’t spend the night at the team hotel in Monrovia, and it was during a routine check at 2:00am that he realized the three layers were out on their own.

Liberia FA flew in 15 overseas players for the Group A encounter with Zimbabwe.

All the expelled players have denied leaving camp, but Coach Bicskei is sticking to his stance and prevented the players from training with the rest of the team Thursday morning.

Dulee Johnson, one of the long-serving players of the Lone Star, and Francis Doe have had repeated issues with indiscipline in the past and their expulsion didn’t come as a surprise to many football fans.

In a news conference Thursday morning, Liberia Football Association President Musa Bility disclosed that the players will be returning to their respective teams in the coming days.

He said the Lone Star put in place a rigorous code of conduct to restrain all the players, and acknowledged that the FA has endorsed the decision of Coach Bicskei.

Mr. Bility was locked in a meeting with the affected players after the news conference and though details of the meeting were not disclosed to the media, as things stand, a void has been already been created in the squad.

At the same time, midfielder cum striker James Koko Lomell has been selected as one of the replacements for the controversial trio. Also, a local lad of Premier club Monrovia Club Breweries is another player. Midfielder Marcus Marcauley was one of six local based players that is one camp, but was only there as a back up.

The final player according to reports that is been called in is the left footed forward Dweh Allison who is leaving Premier Club FC AK on a free transfer to Invincible Eleven (IE).